Debbie Christel, Assistant Professor, Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles

As an undergraduate senior, it was such an honor to work on President Floyd’s stole project, with Dr. Linda Bradley. I remember him being very passionate about this project and really wanting to wear a garment that included a representation of all the diverse cultures at WSU. He was so interested in how textile traditions represented the diverse ethnic groups at WSU and wanted to make sure everything was just right.

President Floyd really understood the importance of our field, and that was really meaningful to me. To this day, I’ve never met a university president who genuinely cared so much about honoring diversity, and to be able to do that through cultural textiles was really special to me as a design student.

Meeting and working with him was a highlight of my undergraduate career at WSU. President Floyd was warmhearted, kind, brilliant and will always be remembered in my heart as WSU’s trailblazer in honoring our ethnic diversity. Because of President Floyd and this project, I have, and I think others do too, such a deep appreciation and understanding of how diverse WSU is.

— Debbie Christel, Assistant Professor, Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles